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How Does Your Personal Data Center Measure Up?
tachijuan asks: "My job allows me too meet many technically inclined people. Invariably we get to talking about our home setups. I've run across some very sophisticated setups. Some people I've met have enough computing and storage resources to have themselves classified as large data centers. They run this at home, and usually just for the hell of it. How do the setups of Slashdot readers measure up?" How many pieces of networked digital equipment do you have at home?
"Here's a description of mine:
- 1 x RedHat 9 quad processor PIII Xeon web server+other general duties stuff
- 1 x FC3 router/VPN server
- 1 x Astaro secure unix firewall/external router
- 1 x FC3 email ( http://zimbra.com/ ) server + backup server
- 1 x Mac G3 OSX 10.3.9 print server
- 1 x WinXP print server/general use machine
- 1 x WinXP general purpose home machine + TIVO media center server
- 1 x UltraSparc 10, Solaris 9, play machine + web server
- 2 x WinXP laptops
- 1 x Apple PowerBook 17"
- 1 x NetApp 630 with 1.1TB of disk serving both NFS and CIFS
- 2 x external USB 200GB drives for backups of main data in NetApp DCF
- 3 x inkjet printers scattered around the house
- 1 x 8 port GigE main DCF backbone switch
- 1 x 32 port Etherport III main home network switch
- 1 x WRT54G switch providing high speed network for interal home use
- 1 x befw11s4 switch + range extender for slow-speed, high range, general home use
- 1 x TIVO!
- 4 x spare machines laying around waiting to be purposed
I started building a nice phat data/media center, plus PCs attached to the TV in living room, bedroom, etc... but my power bill is already crazy. If I start adding more and more 100% uptime systems, it will get ridiculous. I have pared down to just the essentials; what's the point of all that hardware in a house? "Just cause I can" doesn't pay the bills.
Granted, I live in CA, so my power bill is pretty obscene to begin with, so maybe this isn't a concern for everyone.
Fred.
> quad processor PIII Xeon web server+other general duties stuff
My file/mail/web/backup server is a Pentium 233 MMX. It's ridiculously overpowered for what it does.
load averages: 0.10, 0.09, 0.08
His logic was that if someone didn't have a home network ("my windoze box is connected to the thingy PacBell gave me") couldn't answer questions about security, etc on his home network, he didn't have the interest level to be well suited in his department.
Run 30 machines at home to do our bidding when (and this is still overkill) a few could do the same amount of work. Who cares if you are only home (and awake) for a few hours a day. Remember these days fondly when energy prices are sky high.
1xWRT54gs with OpenWRT (wireless/firewall/router/vpn endpoint/whatever else)
1x1.7TB RAID server whose disks spin down entirely when not in use (largest power draw)
1xThinkpad X40 (laptops don't draw much)
1xMac Mini (everything else, and the mini also draws almost nothing)
This is the equivalent of either a dick-size or old-school engine displacement war. Its nothing than more Slashdot navel-gazing, about how über we all are, vs. the unwashed masses, with a subtle MS bash thrown in.
Instead of a "what trinkets do you have?" Ask Slashdot, how about a "Whats needed in a home lab?" Ask Slashdot question? Otherwise it degenerates into a wallet-size competition, or an obscure "my firmware version on my Linksys is better than yours because Fry's is teh suck, CompUSA is teh r0XX0r!" discussion.
Next questions from the content-with-no-value dept.: "What do you drive?" Or "What did you have for breakfast?"
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
The funny thing is, if a guy was interviewing with me for an IT position and said he ran a setup at home like that, he'd be round-filed. What a massive waste of electricity and resources. The functions he has listed can be easily met with two or three machines and its either massive intarweb dick-waving or a real lack of understanding about how IT services can or should be deployed when it takes twelve.
Example: I run my Linux fileserver, my Windows MCE 2005 system for my XBox 360s, another Windows system running some home automation package I can't remember, and my general "this is internet accessible for ssh" Linux system on one piece of hardware, a relatively energy efficient dual Pentium III system with a load of RAM running VMWare and a bunch of external firewire drives. One server, a gigabit switch, a 10/100 switch and my DLink router. Enough to meet everything he was doing, and my electric bill isn't $100/month from it.
I may actually add "describe your home network setup" to my list of interview questions. I'd never thought of it, and it tells you a lot about people, it seems.